Week 16 - Superburrl I

Today I realised that "The Mango" is lacking an account of Weeks 14 and 15 from the National Football League. Week 14 has a single blog for the Chicago Bears, but mentions no other teams. As for Week 15, the Vikings won and the Bears lost... and they were playing on the same field... and so the Vikings would most likely be going to the playoffs... and the Chicago Bears definitely wouldn't... and so at the time I simply refused to blog Week 15.

Now I could talk about how the Bears dominated the Packers last night, the punts blocked, the snow, the interceptions, the Bear Downs and the No. 54s but I sense all of you already know about that. Also, there was a much more significant game, the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons were playing at Minnesota. If Minnesota won they would get the last playoff spot. Simple as? Unfortunately the only two teams that could catch them included their opponents for the night, the Washington Redskins. (New Orleans could also catch them but they were down south taking on Buzzer.) Here's what happened...

Green Bay Packers 7
Chicago Bears 35

NY Giants 38
Buffalo Bills 21

Philadelphia Eagles 38
New Orleans Saints 23

Dallas Cowboys 20
Carolina Panthers 13

Kansas City Chiefs 20
Detroit Lions 25

Washington Redskins 32
Minnesota Vikings 21

So what is the picture for the playoffs and what can happen next week?

DIVISION WINNERS IN NFC (and seeding)

(1) Dallas Cowboys (bye & homefield advantage)
(2) Green Bay Packers (bye)
(3) Seattle Seahawks
(4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

WILD CARDS (and seeding)

(5) New York Giants
(6) ?

The last spot in the playoffs is between:

Washington Redskins 8 - 7 (as it stands Washington would go through)
Minnesota Vikings 8 - 7
New Orleans Saints 7 - 8